The slow tracks have left most stroke-players whingeing and ensured there is not much slam bang cricket, vital to T20. Khurram Habib reports.

Too much cricket seems to be costing the Champions League important fans and mileage.

The slow tracks have left most stroke-players whingeing and ensured there is not much slam bang cricket, vital to T20. The reason is the insufficient time the square has got to recover. On Sunday, Mike Hussey, Steven Smith and James Franklin spoke about the batting struggle at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

"It is not the best T20 wicket around. It is difficult to play strokes. Since it has been re-laid, it'll take time to settle down," said CSK's Hussey when asked if it wasn't poor advertisement for the already struggling league. Home skipper MS Dhoni made 7 off 22 balls in the loss against Trinidad and Tobago!

At 265 per match, the average score in Chennai has been a shade better than Bangalore (259), only because rain has hit Bangalore more often. Hyderabad (296) was the best.

"It is a new wicket and we are trying to do our best," said PR Viswanathan, BCCI pitches and ground committee member.

The work on the square began on June 4, after the IPL, and was completed mid-July, giving 8-9 weeks for it to settle.

"On an average, you can start rolling a pitch after about 10-12 weeks. For really good results, you need 7-8 months. At the moment we are ensuring none of the strips gets abused. So, we are rotating matches on it."